"I'm ready for a sports hero who doesn't treat the world like his spittoon," Golf Digest columnist Tom Callahan told the New York Times two years ago.

I think that Callahan was off-base in his blanket dismissal of professional athletes and their better instincts. Most pros recognize the responsibilities that come with being in the public spotlight; most obey the law, and many devote time and energy to community betterment. Pros make headlines when they stray, but most do not stray.

Most professional athletes recognize
the responsibilities that come with being in the public spotlight; most
obey the law, and many devote time and energy to community betterment. But few pros likely serve their community as earnestly as Washington Redskins wide
receiver Pierre Garcon.